Get Involved

AOPA Live This Week

AOPA Live This Week - April 17, 2014

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

The Los Angeles Times shines the light on Customs and Border Protection's actions against innocent pilots. The latest on the driver's license medical. Where warbirds come home to roost, and saving an airport.

AOPA proposes plan to trim FAA costs. Take a flight out of the 1920s in a "Tin Goose," the Ford Trimotor. Join the splash-in as seaplanes gather in Greenville, Maine. Part 3 of our trip to "Mars" in the arctic.

AOPA plans a change in course for Summit, with the big convention to be replaced by multiple regional events in years to come so we can meet you where you fly. Also this week, AOPA gets some backup in Congress on aircraft searches, we’ll take you flying in the Canadian Arctic, and Rod Machado has tips on timing the flare.

Federal agents have been stopping and searching general aviation aircraft around the country without satisfactory explanation, or apparent legal authority to do so. AOPA offers updated advice amid an ongoing effort to protect your rights. Also this week, a scenic Cirrus voyage to Alaska, and advice on choosing an AME.

New AOPA president named. Celebrating Orville's birthday, and rededicating AOPA's gift to the nation at First Flight. Fly Well on your hearing. The Super Cub makes it across the Atlantic, now on to Africa.

The FAA has proposed a sweeping airworthiness directive (AD) requiring the removal and inspection of thousands of after-market cylinders installed in Continental aircraft engines. AOPA is fighting the proposal, noting enormous cost and compromised safety. AOPA Live This Week® used the Freedom of Information Act to gain an exclusive inside look at a recent general aviation aircraft search ordered by federal officials for reasons that remain mysterious. Also this week, Rod Machado gets back into spins, and how to stop them before they start, in his License to Learn segment, and producer Paul Harrop scopes out glasses that can protect the eyesight of pilots targeted by lasers, an increasingly common event.

Incredible. CBP says it can't find records on a pilot stop and search. Milestone Pilatus PC-12 number 1,200 delivered in Portsmouth, NH. Going strong since 1947. A look at Bonanza number 4,000. Oshkosh medical cures, and a Fly Well report on your ticker.

Pilots' Bill of Rights II. The kids are in love with Dusty, and it might lead to more pilots. Pilots from around the world flock to Oshkosh. AirVenture by the numbers, and a unique trip through the Fly Market.

Special edition from AirVenture 2013 in Oshkosh. New diesel powered Redhawk trainer. Jetman flies in the U.S. for the first time. Rod Machado on uncoordinated flight. A look at the panel of the AOPA Sweepstakes Debonair.

Growing general aviation giant Aviation Industry Corporation of China has added Thielert Aircraft Engines to a portfolio that already included Continental Motors and Cirrus. AOPA Live™ landed an exclusive interview with Continental President Rhett Ross to learn what it means to pilots and owners. With EAA AirVenture 2013 just around the corner, we’ll check in on The Debonair Sweepstakes getting fresh paint for the show. AOPA deployed a tent packed with AOPA Jay flight simulation devices by Redbird to engage future pilots at the 2013 National Scout Jamboree. Current pilots might be surprised to learn from Dr. Jonathan Sackier in this week’s “Fly Well” segment that you don’t have to go diving – or even get in the water – to get the bends.

Exclusive interview with the director of the new Disney film "Planes." AOPA continues to press CBP about pilot stops and aircraft searches. What you should drink and eat while flying, according to Dr. Jonathan Sackier. Remembering wing walker Jane Wicker.

Months of federal silence on general aviation aircraft searches by Customs and Border Protection agents have prompted a final demand for answers from AOPA, along with advice for pilots, and a plan to act if answers are not forthcoming. Also this week, a successful ditching is only half the battle: AOPA Live got our feet wet with an in-depth look at open water survival training, picking up some potentially life-saving tips and tricks. We’ll review the latest David Clark headset, a brand-new model built for comfort. Rod Machado’s regular “License to Learn” segment will explain flutter, and what that has to do with those little drain holes in aircraft control surfaces that you may have wondered about.

A big step towards replacing 100LL. The inside story on FAA's user fee demands to AirVenture in Oshkosh. New aerobatic airplanes from American Champion and Waco Classic. Dealing with depression - it happens to pilots, too. The faces behind those "Pull up! Terrain!" warnings.

Chasing toilet paper through the sky has a serious purpose. New AOPA Aviation Finance Company makes it easier to get financing for an airplane,avionics or engine overhaul. Rod Machado shows how to increase your chances of surviving a crash. Part 2 of the top ten stupid things pilots do to sabotage their medicals.

The furlough is over, but do we need to reexamine FAA funding? Big tax reduction in Indiana thanks to AOPA. A thermal shock to your engine is a good thing sometimes, says Rod Machado. Updates to AOPA FlyQ EFB for the iPad. And a Beaver on floats -- easier than you think.

FAA furloughs clogging up the system. What GA pilots can do to avoid delays. High altitude and high G training at NASTAR. Even civilians can do it. Fight fatigue - a Fly Well report. And a do-it-yourself full cockpit 707 simulator.